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I have added 8 SPL Premiums Mic Pre's to my mic preamp arsenal http://spl.info/pro… RackPack 8: Sound Performance Lab. Other than sounding truly wonderful, they have two line outs that could be used for a variety of things including parallel tracking (note: I believe this option is only available on the 500 series model).
I originally saw this extra line out ideal for a backup to a second recorder (mobile tracking for example). But since then, I have added a few LA-2A 's and 1176's to my arsenal and now see huge advantage tracking with those going in. So...

Normally I would track clean and do any processing ITB or DA hybrid but there is no substitute to tracking with analog gear like this going in and also at the mixing stage. This extra line out just became an interesting option.

Once things tame down around here I'm going to experiment with this more. Any idea's on how you would use these in a parallel tracking process? Good idea, Yes, No?

I'm thinking I could process track 1 > Mic> SPL Premium> Line out 1> 1176> LA-2A > AD and keep line out 2 clean to the AD and experiment with some parallel processing this way.

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Boswell Fri, 10/12/2012 - 04:17

That routing sounds a good thing to try. You could do things like compare tracking with compression with tracking clean and adding compression at mixdown. However, my quick reading of the SPL brochure indicates that only the main output goes through the output transformer, so expect a sonic difference between the two outputs anyway.

Davedog Fri, 10/12/2012 - 10:11

I was looking at this the other day. In the 'day' there were consoles that were wired this way and it seemed to be an efficient way to do things. AND even though I am of the school of getting the mic in the right spot, there are elements that come into play in the sound capture when you put a signal through the circuits of some of those Old School Devices, that make magic happen.

As far as the routing, even not going through the output trannies on the second output, you would be able to add some iron of a different nature and through the use of your Dangerous summing or whatever your summing device is, even a loop back through another channel of a console, would give you parallel tracks with different signatures to blend.

Seems like a powerful tracking tool.

I wonder if SPL's idea was to be able to use the DI and the mic simultaneously as you might not want a trannied output for your DI. That would seem to give you an un-colored signal from your source as well as something for the mic which might enhance its signal and then blend from there.

I'm adding SPL to my list of upgrades. Not sure what I'm going to get at this point but there will be something soon.

I have located a very nice conditioned Groove Tubes ViPre for a great price and it will be mine. Ever since I used one in some sessions a few years back its been on my short list of THE go-to chain. My vintage 57's and U87 should take a huge stride forward in front of this thing. The rest of the rack upgrade will consist of a few more channels of .....something....to get the drums out of the Soundcraft (for now...its actually a pretty good sound but theres better) and a couple of compressors.. outboard. Kurt has that El_op...hmmmm...and theres a couple of others I have in mind.

Fun fun fun.....A couple of new records to start this month.

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